Albuquerque (NM as a whole really) is quite poor and it's a lot easier to convince poor people to help poor people.
One gets the feeling that it's a more egalitarian city than other US metro areas. I didn't feel like it was that racist of a city, certainly nothing compared to Pittsburgh, where I now live.
And there are very few establishments that are designed exclusively for the wealthy. The Frontier restaurant near UNM is a great example of what I'm talking about. You would regularly see news anchors, professors, doctors, etc. dining there in the same room as people who were homeless.
This is an excellent description. Some people still flaunt their wealth, which is true everywhere, but I feel a sense of the city belonging to everyone that lives in it.
Of course, that's my view as a fairly well-off white male who's never experienced anything close to homelessness. People from different circumstances may have different opinions.
There are still parts that are a bit scary (south valley, south of central especially around Zuni/San Pedro) but it's not that scary if you are from Abq. As for the racism, a lot of that goes back to the makeup of Abq historically and today, with an extremely diverse (and distributed!) population that most places can't match.